Someone Like You
by Zosie
Summary: Two Shot.Bella Swan returns to Forks for one day only, to watch a wedding that could have been hers, if only.Based on Adele's beautiful song of the same name.
1. Chapter 1

**I couldn't access my fanfic today so I just wrote a one shot in my lunch hour because I couldn't remember where any story was up to.**

Someone Like You

Adele (Adele 21 cd)

I heard that you're settled down

That you found a girl and you're married now.

I heard that your dreams came true.

Guess she gave you things I didn't give to you.

Old friend, why are you so shy?

Ain't like you to hold back or hide from the light.

I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited

But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it.

I had hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded

That for me it isn't over

Never mind, I'll find someone like you

I wish nothing but the best for you too

Don't forget me, I beg

"I'll remember", you said,

Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead.

Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead,

Yeah.

Nothing compares

No worries or cares

Regrets and mistakes

They are memories made.

Who would have known how bittersweet this would taste?

Never mind, I'll find someone like you

I wish nothing but the best for you too

Don't forget me, I beg

"I'll remember", you said,

Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead.

Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead.

SomeOne Like You

(Intended as a One Shot, now apparently to be a Two Shot)

Bella Swan sat in her car and watched the guests gathered in front of the beautiful old stone built church. Most of them she knew, and she smiled at how wonderful Esme looked, as Mother Of The Groom. She was wearing a mid blue frock and short jacket and looked like one of those elegant movie stars from the fifties. Her hair was swept up off her shoulders into some type of intricate bun, no doubt Rosalie's handiwork. That girl could take the plainest tresses and twirl and braid them into an amazing work of art.

Rose herself was in lipstick pink, not quite her usual fire engine red that demanded everyone look at her.

Maybe Alice had threatened her about hogging the limelight and taking the attention away from herself. For a girl who barely managed to reach five foot tall, she was a little dynamo and only she could have ordered Rose out of her favorite color and been obeyed.

Emmett, oh God, Emmett.

In a way, Bella had missed him almost the most of the Cullen family. He looked even taller than she remembered and the suit was a novelty, even to him. He had his finger in the top of the tightly buttoned collar and was easing it gently.

The buttonhole revealed what she already guessed, he was Best Man.

Emmett really was the perfect Best Man, he would get the groom to the church on time, and no matter how wild the bachelor party had been, that soon-to-be-husband would be there, spotless, dressed perfectly, standing upright, even if Emmett had to hold him up himself.

Bella had not been invited but that was no surprise, it had been a while since she had ventured home to Forks.

All communication with the family she had loved, maybe even more than she once thought she loved her own parents, had ended that day. The day she sadly packed her bags and gave up. She had fought the good fight, she had given it her all but it was true apparently, sometimes love alone was not enough.

And he had let her go, that had been the hardest part.

He had shouted at her as she threw her clothes into her suitcase. He'd apologized for not being what she wanted him to be and told her she knew she didn't want to stay, so just go.

Just go.

Everything had gotten to be more than either of them could bear and it had been better to just do what he suggested and go.

The emptiness of her new life was just a reminder of all she had walked away from.

Oh, there he was.

The groom.

From his shiny black shoes, to his tuxedo clad body that she knew oh so well, to that face that was the very definition of beauty and perfection, to the for once tidy mass of copper almost curls, he was still breath takingly stunning.

Her heart contracted and she felt the imaginary knife stab into it again and twist, twist and turn and destroy what was left, the tiny ragged remains that somehow managed to keep beating and keep her alive.

Why, she had no idea.

She guessed she still hadn't suffered enough. Maybe today would be the culmination of every pain she had ever felt over him, and finally she would be allowed to embrace the soft welcoming arms of darkness and she would sleep the sleep of those granted eternal rest.

Bella slunk lower into her seat and watched from her vantage point in the carpark. Nobody had even glanced her way but he was frowning, scanning the area, no doubt feeling that strange pull their bodies generated whenever they got within fifty foot of one another.

She watched as Emmett picked up on his tension and walked to stand beside him, a massive calming hand on his brother's shoulder as Edward shook his head and waved a hand vaguely around in her direction. They needed Jasper there, he was the one who always managed to pour oil onto troubled waters.

Bella knew he was in Iraq and was equally sure he would have been as reluctant as she was to watch this final, life changing commitment between his Alice and her Edward, as they had always been until a mere two years ago. That was, if they got together the very minute she left.

Maybe they just knew and it hadn't taken long at all.

She had thought once that she knew, and it still caused her endless pain that she had been deceived by her own heart into believing he was her One.

Maybe he was, it was just that she wasn't his.

Emmett shrugged and shook his head.

Nope, her car wasn't here.

Well, it would have been the old red truck he was searching for and it had met it's maker just weeks after she had fled. Nobody would have associated this modern little vehicle with Bella Swan.

Emmett was being the perfect Best Man, walking Edward towards some newly arrived guests, shaking hands, distracting him.

That's what Best Men were for, to make sure, above everything else, that the groom walked down that aisle before the bride arrived, and stood waiting for her.

How disastrous had he not been there when she began that last walk as Miss Mary Alice Brandon.

Oh, movement at last.

Esme was calling to her sons, sending them inside first and then she gathered the guests like some overeager sheepdog and herded them inside as the limo hovered at the gate, waiting for them to get into their places before the bride and her stand in father arrived.

Carlisle would accompany Alice down the aisle and hand her over, not to the almost son they had all expected would one day be her groom, but to the beautiful Edward.

The grounds were empty, and the limo inched closer and next thing there was Carlisle, alighting, in his wedding gear, looking like the older version of Edward despite the different colored hair and eyes. His hair was so blond to be almost platinum, his son's such an amazing mix of brown and gold and copper. More like Esme's though even she knew Edward got the better, brighter, more unique version.

And Carlisle's eyes were ice blue, without the slighest coldness, just the color of corn flowers in the Summer sun. Bella had hoped had she and Edward ever had a daughter, that their child would inherit Carlisle's eyes.

Edward's own eyes were the purest, clearest green, prettier than emerald or jade, calm and welcoming like the sea. So easy to fall deep inside and drown. Too dangerous to pass on to a son of his own.

Rose alone waited, her pretty bouquet of roses and white lilies in hand and she smiled at Alice.

Carlisle opened the backdoor and out stepped Alice, the beautiful bride.

At her height, she should have looked comical, being almost as round as she was tall. Clearly they had left this wedding to the very last minute and if she wasn't quick on her feet, it could well be extended to include the christening.

Maybe it just wasn't possible to hurt more than she already did, so this didn't shock or distress Bella further.

He would be an amazing father, of that she had no doubt. He had always been so kind and gentle to small children and animals, no doubt this baby would have the very best father in the universe.

She hoped the baby's photo would get printed in the local paper, she must drop in at the newspaper office and subscribe. They would happily post her weekly copies to her each month. They'd always devoted a whole page to any new little newborn residents arriving in Forks, it was that kind of publication. More interested in someone's new baby than what was happening out there, in the rest of the world.

Bella knew she was crying silently but she ignored the tears and crept from her car and walked in a huge semi circle to get to the graveyard behind the church without going near that building itself.

There it was , the plot that had become the final home for her father just a little over two years ago. His death had shattered her in ways she hadn't expected. Who knew how distressing it would be, losing him like that? All those years while they had lived together in the little white clapboard house, just the two of them.

Renee long gone, just the ghost of her kept alive by Charlie's insistence of keeping the wedding photos, and the family portraits, on every bit of available wall space.

Of course, with Renee leaving when Bella was only six years old, the photos ended then, and there were no embarrassing updates as she hit the chubby pre adolescence period, or the gangly too long in the legs and arms stage that followed as her body slimmed and became almost boyish. Though mercifully that stage had not hung around for long.

Puberty had worked it's magic and replaced the flat board look for curves and bumps in the right places and an impossibly tiny waist in the middle.

And the scraggy hair had suddenly thickened and grown so long she could sit on it, and her dull plain eyes had changed and become 'interesting' her peers assured her.

Edward had loved her eyes.

Alice's were brown too, maybe he found them similar.

She pulled away the struggling weeds from the side of the concrete slab and tossed them to the grass at the far side, and brushed away the scattering of dirt.

CHARLES M SWAN

Beloved Father

DOB DOD

So few words. She wished now she had thought of some words to really describe how precious he had been. Of course, she hadn't really appreciated him in life, he always seemed to want to interfere with her life as she went through the teen years with no mother to guide her or be on her side.

It was as if he had been convinced Edward was only out to seduce her and break her heart, not love her and cherish her and give her everything he possibly could. The years with him would always be the golden years of her existence.

For seven years, from the age of a mere fifteen, he had been hers and hers alone.

And she had been his.

Nobody would have ever convinced her back then that things could change so fast your head would spin and leave you out there in the cold, wondering what the hell had happened?

She still wondered.

There had been no betrayal, no suggestion of anyone else coming between them, just her deep grief over Charlie had clouded her mind and her judgement and suddenly nothing Edward did was good enough.

He hadn't changed, he was exactly the same wonderful man he had always been but it just felt like he had the wrong arms.

All the years she had lain in those loving arms, suddenly she wanted her father's arms around her and the knowledge that this was impossible had shattered her. She had tried to change Edward, make him more like Charlie.

How insane was that?

Charlie had annoyed the heck out of her at times and that had felt like the strongest emotions he had stirred in her, until it was too late and she realized how much she had loved him and needed him and how grateful she was that unlike Renee, he had seen her as someone of enough value to stay and love and raise.

She had never wondered if Charlie would have liked the chance to leave first, before his wife had, because he was not that type of man. He was steady and hard working and salt of the earth and he knew the value of having a daughter and he had put her needs before his own.

Other kids at school had been in the same boat, in the Disappearing Mother's club, but their Dad's had dated and subjected them to a parade of changing 'potential stepmoms', and eventually some had remarried, some had just liked the search so much they'd continued it forever.

Bella had been lucky. Charlie had always thought of the absent Renee as his wife, and the small matter of the divorce and her remarriage had never caused him to falter.

He had devoted his entire life to his sometimes extremely ungrateful daughter.

Of course, the fact he was wary of her relationship with Edward had come between them. She could never see a single fault in the beautiful man at her side and she had raged at her father for being able to stand back and judge him and sometimes find him wanting.

It was crazy, Edward was perfect.

Always had been, always would be.

And yet she had tried to change perfection.

Edward had not understood how she felt about Charlie's loss, but he had a family, a proper Mom, and Dad who was always there for him, encouraging, helping, being what a real father should be.

Esme was the perfect cookie cutter mother than you encountered once in a lifetime if you were lucky.

And he had his brother, Emmett, the perfect brother. Always up for anything, always ready to go along with the wildest schemes and the craziest ideas when they were kids, always there with a mocking put down when Edward got too big for his boots,but mainly, no matter what, Emmett had his back.

He would fight through fire and Hell itself to come to Edward's aid.

And then he also had Jasper, his 'brother to another mother', as if he needed more people on his side.

Bella wondered if Edward ever felt the slightest nagging guilt that he had stepped into Jasper's life and taken Jasper's woman?

They must have been done, Alice and Jasper, because Edward would never consider cheating or coming on to another man's woman, and Jasper's would have been the very last woman on earth he would have poached. So Alice and Jasper, that other forever couple, must have wavered and fallen just like she and Edward had.

Bella stole a few flowers from the border garden and placed them on her father's gravestone and wished she had thought to bring her own. Something fitting. Maybe not roses, or a formal bouquet, just some hand picked wildflowers.

That made her think of the meadow, the one place in Forks where wild flowers always abounded.

The place she had given herself to Edward, for the first time and for many following times as well. Somehow, making love out in the wilderness had just made everything even better.

They could have been spotted by hikers or even the Quileute boys who considered the entire forest their playground, but neither of them had even cared.

Of course, the time Jacob Black saw them and ran to tell Charlie had not been her finest hour but they had survived. The world hadn't crashed to an end. Charlie had blushed redder than his daughter and mumbled things like 'be safe' and 'please don't tell me details' and 'he had better intend marrying you' had crossed his lips but he had not even attempted to punish her as Jake had hoped.

Bella guessed Charlie always knew this was going to happen anyway and she was almost eighteen that 'first time'. No need to make matters worse and admit it was a reenactment of their actual first time nearly two years earlier, the very day she turned sixteen. He really wouldn't have handled that information nearly as well.

What else would Edward have given her? Her deepest wish had been for him to be her first, and embarrassingly, he was still her only.

She knew that was weak and pointless, but lust and love had never struck her simultaneously again.

Maybe now and then lust had tried to visit but she had closed the door on him for not bringing anyone for her to love with him.

She couldn't cheapen what she and Edward had shared by being that way with someone she didn't love and the day she did finally fall in love again, she would change that status and willingly fall into bed with the man who made her heart beat again but until that day, she was not changing a thing.

Someone like Edward. That was who she was waiting for. Someone just like Edward.

And she wouldn't attempt to change him, not in any way.

She knew she had been wrong and stupid and all she could come up with was, grief did strange things to people.

Now with the passing of time, she could sit back and see how wrong she had been, how unfair. How futile, and in truth, she would never have wanted Edward to be any other way than they way he already was.

It had clearly been some Freudian desperate attempt to get her dead father back.

Edward hadn't even come looking for her, and at first she had waited, inside her mother's house by the phone, afraid to walk a single step outside in case she missed his call.

It was only maybe a year later that she even realized she had never told anyone who her mother had remarried so searching for a woman named Renee Swan would have led all enquiries back to Forks.

Nobody knew about Phil. Bella had thought by never admitting he had taken Charlie's rightful place in her mother's heart, that he didn't matter or maybe even never existed. A childish reaction, for sure but her fantasy had always been that her Mom would wake up and see what she walked away from and come back and make them a family again. Then it was too late and instead, Renee had been overseas in some distant country and no contact details and had missed the funeral entirely.

All she had said was "Bella, he was dead. He didn't know who turned up to see him buried and who didn't. Get over yourself."

Then Edward had said something similar, to her ears, at the time and she had never forgiven him.

"It's not Charlie, Bella. It's just his body. Think of it like your first car. You use it and then you sell it or scrap it and you never think of it again. Why, because you don't need it, it isn't you, and that corpse isn't Charlie."

Of course now she understood and knew he had been right but at the time it seemed like there was nobody on this earth on her side, who understood the magnitude of her loss.

There was the sound of music filling the air and Bella smiled, she knew who sat at that old piano inside the church and whose fingers caressed the keys and coaxed that blissful sound from it's tired parts.

His fingers had coaxed many moments of bliss from her own body and she was suddenly madly jealous of Alice, who would have those hands forever now.

Touching her, stroking her cheeks, her chin, her secret places.

Bella shook the image from her mind because of course, even as they were making the most precious vows to one another, the girl in the images was Bella herself.

She tried to stop the new images, the unavoidable truth, that Alice was giving him the child she had refused him.

Kids just weren't part of her lifeplan and she was unbending when he started to suggest it was time they gave it some open minded thought.

Bella had all but sneered at him.

A child? In this world? In a world where a wonderful, much respected Chief of Police could be gunned down by a fourteen year old with his stepdad's gun?

Nope, never happening.

It would be irresponsible to consider this crappy world was worthy of their child.

Of any child.

How many were starving, dying, and yet people made more instead of caring for those already here.

Once it became obvious Edward was not looking for her and would never call, she had joined World Children's Care and gone to Africa and helped feed and care for the poorest of the poor but it had been heartbreaking, for so many it was too little too late.

It had killed what little remained of her heart and she had come running home with no actual home to return to.

Charlie's house had been sold by whoever handled his estate, she presumed and the money sat in an account in her name.

Much as she wanted to just donate it all to the fund, she did have to eat and live and have a roof of sorts over her head until she found her place in the world and got a job.

A paying soulless job, like everyone else had.

She quite liked Florida, and Renee and Phil had moved on to somewhere else now, so she might go live there.

She quickened her pace and made it to her car just as the church doors opened and out walked the blushing bride and beautiful groom.

Camera's flashed, someone video'ed the whole walk back down the aisle as Mr and Mrs Edward Cullen walked into the fresh air for the first time as a married couple.

It was almost like the scene in a soap opera.

Alice made a few faltering steps and grabbed at her midsection.

Edward grabbed his hair and yanked all that perfected coiffering away as he panicked madly. Carlisle took over, shouting orders, Emmett was on the cellphone, calling for an ambulance.

Gosh, truly a day to remember.

Guests were milling about, not knowing what to do, and Carlisle said something and they scattered and headed for their cars. The cars that hid this very vehicle from the sight of the wedding party.

Bella started her own car and hoped to leave unnoticed, with the crush of cars all heading for the far exit, leaving the main one free for the ambulance.

Edward and Carlisle had both just climbed into the back of the white emergency vehicle as Bella drove out onto the road and headed for the small motel she called home tonight.

Tomorrow she would be gone and never return.

X~x~X

Morning broke and the door rattled as room service delivered her tray, with freshly brewed coffee and toast, scrambled eggs, orange juice and a complementary copy of Forks News.

The front page granted her wish, baby Jaxon Whitlock adorned the front cover and Bella frowned and read the story.

_Our congratulations to Jasper and Alice Whitlock following the birth of their first son Jaxon Edward yesterday, just hours after the couple's marriage in Fork's local church. Edward Cullen, Jaxson's Godfather, stood in, as proxy, for Jasper, who was unable to get home from Iraq for neither the wedding nor the three week early arrival of his son. He is being flown home immediately now the baby has put in an appearance._

_Our very best wishes to them all._

Bella put down the paper and wondered what an appropriate gift would be for this extraordinarily special baby, whose arrival had let her know the truth, and dispelled the assumptions she had made.

Maybe there was hope.

Maybe Edward would be willing to give her a second chance.

She would never know unless she went and asked him.

_**A/N If you've never listened to Adele sing Someone Like You, give yourself a treat. It never fails to make me cry even though, being married at 18 to the only man I've ever loved and still being on our honeymoon all these years and kids later, it shouldn't resonate with me...it's the way she sings it. You feel her words and cry for 'your loss' and it's just beautiful.**__**A little annoying that the only pics we got here of Adele's US tour were ones of RPatz sitting in the front row...one pic of Adele wasn't reasonable?**_


	2. Chapter 2

Someone Like You

Second Chapter Of Two Shot.

Edward grasped the glass tighter and slapped away Tanya's hands yet again. Maybe everyone else was so enthused by the birth of baby Jaxon they were not noticing the woman's wandering hands blatantly there in front of them but he was about to slap the woman properly if she didn't quit.

"Edward, for fucks sake, I'm not proposing marriage but if you don't wake up and fuck that little whats-her-name out of your system, then you may as well become a monk."

"Fine, I'll become a monk," he replied, standing and walking away. His heart beat painfully, he was so sure Bella had been there, maybe just at the very edge of the distance that allowed him to feel her, but nobody and nothing else ever made his body tingle like that. Maybe he was conjuring her up now, as his latest method in coping. Maybe he'd start seeing her ghostly hologram images next.

If she'd been there, she would have come to him. She would have. He should have ignored Emmett and gone to search for her. The 'wedding' could have waited.

He poured himself another drink and saw his Mom frown. Yes, it was early in the day for drinking, but everyone else was drinking in celebration of Jaxon, surely he could drink for his own reasons.

Jasper would arrive sometime today and he would gladly hand over the responsibility of Alice and the baby back to him. He'd been happy to step in, but even a mock wedding and delivery of a baby who could have been the playmate of the child he had wanted himself, so much, had hurt and he had struggled with both proxy roles.

He knew he would never have another relationship like his first and only, but at twenty three his life couldn't be over. Much as he was tempted to follow Charlie Swan's footsteps and just turn his apartment into a shrine for the absent Bella, his family were constantly begging him to just try and move on.

"Mom, I'm going to head home, thanks for lunch. Please don't give anyone here my address, Tanya has been her usual self and I don't want to have to toss her down the staircase of the apartment complex."

"Okay Dear, but Tanya is not that bad really, maybe if you asked her out on a date?"

"Goodbye, Mom," he growled and walked to his car and unlocked the driver's door. He was barely halfway down the driveway of his parents house when he saw Tanya in the rear view mirror, rushing out of the front door, having realised he had gone, and madly try to attract his attention.

He put his foot down and sped away, hoping everyone watching assumed he hadn't noticed her. He didn't want to be rude but nothing she had in mind would ever happen, not with him, anyway.

His cell buzzed and he debated leaving it, it was probably Tanya if she had stolen his Mom's phone and why wouldn't she? The woman had no boundaries.

Edward pulled over and checked the caller ID.

Alice.

Alice Whitlock.

He grinned, when had she had a chance to update her name on his phone?

"Hey, Mommy, how's everything going?" he asked and smiled. He loved Alice like a sister and now he was Godfather to baby Jaxon, she and Jas felt even more like family.

He waited for her reply and realised she had merely called without intending to speak and had left the phone line open so he could hear the conversation going on in her hospital room.

"So, **Bella,** you went to Africa and worked with the underprivileged kids, how amazing, **Bella."**

He heard the voice he had missed for two long years as she replied, too far from the cell to be clearly understood.

"Thanks for the outfit for Jaxon, **Bella.** I'm sure Jaxon will look great in it when he turns three, **Bella."**

Edward would have laughed at Alice's obvious message but it was Bella. His Bella. Back where she belonged. He increased his speed and arrived at the hospital just in time to see her leaving and he jumped from the barely still car and ran to intercept her.

She looked up in shock seconds before his arms enveloped her body and his lips kissed the top of her head. Neither spoke but her arms flew around his torso and held him so tight he wasn't sure if he could still breathe, but he wasn't about to complain.

"Get a room," someone yelled and Edward walked them, still embracing, to his car and managed to open the back door and slide them both inside.

"Bella," was all he could say and she looked up tearfully into his eyes and nodded.

"You came back," he choked.

"I had to, a little bird told me you were getting married," she replied, as he seated himself on the seat and pulled her onto his lap. His hands cradled her face and she nodded her permission and his familiar lips crashed down on hers.

"No,not me, never, not to anyone but you," he gasped and kissed her again.

"You looked amazing. I felt like running down that church aisle and beating Alice to the front," she admitted.

"I knew you were there! I knew it! I wish you had, I really truly wish you had," he answered, stroking her face, making sure she was real. "Tell me I'm not dreaming because if I am I never want to wake up."

"No, you are not dreaming. Edward, I'm so sorry for everything. I should never have acted like that. The shock of losing Charlie was severe and maybe I was a little out of my head for a while but I want to come back home. Have things changed? Do you have a girlfriend or anything?"

"Of course not," he growled, "as if anyone would do for me after you."

"Then can I please come home?" she begged. She was not above begging, she had created the split, it was up to her to mend things.

"Come home right now," he pleaded.

She nodded and he kissed her again, afraid to even let her go long enough to bring her home.

"My bags are at the Forks Motel, I extended my stay another night," she explained and he shook his head.

"No, we will go grab your stuff but you are coming home with me. Don't argue."

"I wouldn't dare," she smiled. "Edward, I've missed you, it's been like I stopped living the moment I got to Renee's."

"What is the damned woman's name? I searched high and low and couldn't find one single person who knew who she married the second time around."

"Oh, of course. Dwyer, she married Phil Dwyer. You looked for me?" she asked softly.

"Of course I looked for you. I still would be if Alice hadn't needed me to come home and be stand in for Jasper. He was coming home in a fortnight anyway but she kept having psychic flashes that the baby wouldn't wait, so I married her for him. You know what I mean," he sighed.

Bella stood up and Edward slithered from the car and opened the front passenger door, clipping up her seatbelt as she sat inside and kissing her again.

He slammed the door shut and decided her bags could wait, but he couldn't. The car sped along the road to the same apartment building they had shared from the day she turned eighteen and left Charlie's care to come live with him.

He should have insisted they get married from the very start, before she moved in. She may think marriage has no value but if they'd been married, surely he would have been able to find her. He would have found a way to force contact. He would have even filed for spousal support or something, if it was the only way to track her down. He had visited Arizona , and found people who remembered Renee when she first fled there from Forks and from Charlie, but all he was told was that she had met a 'very nice young man' and moved away.

Of course, their recollections of that nice man's name had differed so much to be useless.

One woman had insisted his surname was Phillips, because that was the name of her grandson's football coach's cousin, but no Renee Phillips had proved to be the right woman.

But he supposed, at least it had been closer than the other guesses. Stephenson had been suggested and debated and ruled out. Morgan or was that her daughter-in-law's maiden name, she couldn't remember, the nice old lady in the corner store had puzzled. She decided it was her son's wife's former name "and that's why they named their baby Morgan." Did he want to see photos?

Someone thought they immigrated, another suggested Florida then doubted that was even right.

In the end he had returned to Forks, defeated but still determined to find a way to track her down. Renee was Bella's only living relative. Her beloved last remaining grandparent, her Nan, had died when Bella was still in High School and Edward had supported her through the pain and funeral himself.

It was Charlie's death that had come between them and although Edward had tried his best to be whatever she needed, that thing seemed to morph and change constantly and he never knew what was right and what was wrong.

They had descended into nights of fighting then not talking and Bella sleeping in the study on the sofa, and Edward laying in bed, awake, not knowing if he should go to her and risk being rebuffed yet again, or giving her space and face the accusation he just didn't care about her at all.

He had loved her through it all and he bitterly regretted telling her to go. He hadn't imagined she would leave, not for a minute, then she had and his heart had broken and he'd started the furious search for her that had gotten him nowhere.

He should have 'married' Alice ages ago if it was the one thing that would flush his girl out and draw her home.

He parked and flew to her side and opened the door.

"We didn't get my bags, I have no other clothes," she said and he pulled her in close and kissed her sweetly.

"Clothes are pretty much the last thing you will need, Bella. It's been much too long."

He lifted her into a fireman's hold over his shoulder and ran up the stairs, sorting his keys and opening the door and kicking it shut behind them before dropping her onto their bed.

"Bella, my Bella," he cried and lay beside her, hugging her in close and kissing her face with a hundred soft pecks.

"My Edward," she cried and put her hand inside his shirt, touching his skin. It increased the buzz even more so and his skin tingled as he tore at her clothing and she started working on undoing his pants. It wasn't until they were naked and he was inside her before it even occurred to either of them to use protection and Edward couldn't force himself to leave and pull on a condom.

"They are probably out of date anyway," he whispered, and she bit her lip.

"Bella, baby, I haven't touched anyone, not in any way. I can't give you any diseases because I have only ever been with you," he assured her.

She laughed, and he frowned.

"I thought it was just me. Too weak and pathetic to ever let another man get close enough to touch my hand, let alone kiss me or sleep with me. I can't give you any diseases either."

"I might give you a baby though, are you worried about that?" he asked and she shook her head.

"I want our baby, Edward. I want us back and I want us to get married and have children and live the life you always wanted. I want that life too. I lost one family but I was too blind to see I had my very own family right in front of me, with you."

He buried his face into the side of her neck and breathed her in as his body rocked inside hers and he felt his heart slowly mend again. It was almost a physical thing, he could feel the pieces reach out to one another and fall back into place like pieces of a puzzle.

Bella gasped and clutched at her own chest.

"Hear that? I don't think my heart has even bothered beating until now."

Edward kissed her, pulling her closer , moving inside her, and clutching her back and bottom to bring her body fully flush with his.

He would never let her out of his sight again. Although he had known he loved her since they were about sixteen, he had no idea of the depth of pain he could possibly feel when she left. It had shaken him to his core and he had nothing to fight with.

His chest had torn so badly he couldn't understand the lack of even bruising, because all he could feel was empty and broken. He had often had to clasp his arms around himself when he went to places special to them and just recalled simple walks along the beach, hand in hand.

The meadow, that place made him tear up and cry unashamedly for her. Kisses stolen behind the main building of the High School, those places were his Heaven and his Hell.

He'd seen her everywhere, yet nowhere, it had never been her and he had called her name so many times, so sure this time it _was her_, she had come back to him.

Now just like that, out of nowhere here she was.

His Bella.

They didn't venture further from the shower or the bed all night long and for hours he just kissed her, and sometimes she pulled him back inside her and sometimes he pushed his way back to Paradise, but he knew she felt the same and she would never leave again.

He made her complete, she mended him and made him whole again.

Cooking their breakfast was the second best thing. He barely bothered to eat more than toast and drink gallons of coffee these days but he wanted everything to be nice and special and like it had been before.

Toast, with butter, unlike the dry version he had forced down. Eggs, fluffy and light and cooked to perfection. Bacon, tomato, juice. He checked every use by date because most foodstuff in his fridge just sat there where Alice or Esme placed it and remained until they tossed them away again a week later.

They had both become his carers virtually and he was so glad those days were over.

"That looks delicious," she said, turning her face up to kiss him. He placed the plate on the table and took her back into his arms and kissed her again, properly, no pecks. In time he would surely calm again and be able to leave her alone long enough to let her eat, but today he just couldn't manage that.

He sat beside her and held one hand, fingers meshed together, his thumb rubbing the back of her hand endlessly, unable to still, as he fed her with the other hand that held her fork.

Bella smiled and laughed at him, and let her hand remain in his as bits of egg or bacon missed and crumbled into her lap.

"I need to shower yet again," she said as the meal ended. "You have to go get my bag, I have nothing clean to wear.

"Of course you do, all the clothes you left behind are still here, of course," he growled. Like he would have tossed anything of hers away.

Bella's eyes filled with tears at the sight of her side of the closet, still filled, every outfit spotless and hung up with protective plastic covers. So much better care than she had ever given anything.

"Edward, I love you so much, thank you," she cried and he nodded like it was no big deal and he chose the blue dress he had always loved her to wear and she smiled and took it to the bathroom.

He let her shower alone this time and went to call his Mom and tell her the news.

Bella was home.

Esme choked a little at the sound of his voice, so full of peace and hope again. She already knew of course, Alice had informed everyone already.

"I'm so happy for you, son. She is staying?" she checked nervously. He would never survive being abandoned again. He had blamed himself but that was just Edward. So sure she had only gone because he had lost his patience and told her to. How he had regretted those words and wanted to take them back.

Esme had renewed her bond with him in Bella's absence and she truly wanted Bella to stay and for her son to be happy. He had almost ceased to live, just exist, in the past two years and the joy of Alice's baby had been marred by his sadness and loss and the knowledge he would never be a father now.

If Bella didn't carry his babies, then nobody would.

They agreed to meet at the hospital in visiting hours and Esme hung up the phone and held her hand to her heart. "Just don't hurt him again, please Bella," she whispered.

Emmett grabbed his 'little sister' the minute she and Edward walked hand in hand into Alice's room, and Rose glared at the girl and stepped back.

Carlisle grinned like a fool and took Bella next, holding her close and thanking her for coming home to his son and assuring her, Edward had waited and never faltered.

Alice insisted on photos with Bella holding the baby, and Edward approached Rose.

"Can't you just be happy for me?" he asked her.

"Oh of course," she growled. "She broke you in two and walked away without a backward glance but by all means, let's kill the fatted calf and have a welcome home party fit for a queen."

"Rose, be nice," he begged.

"You can really trust her again?" she asked. "You can just take her back and forget what she did?"

"I love her, Rose. Unconditionally. I didn't understand how hurt she was and how would I? I've never lost a parent. Charlie was the only family she really ever had, Renee barely counts. How do I know how I will react when I lose Esme or Carlisle? Maybe I will fall apart and need her to understand. She didn't mean to hurt me, and she never stopped loving me, what's to forgive?"

"You are a fool," Rose answered harshly.

"To love and honor, in sickness and in health, for better or worse. That was our worse, and her sickness. Carlisle warned me time and time again to get help for her but she didn't want any so I thought I did the right thing and went on her side and arrogantly assumed my love could cure her pain. I should have insisted she seek help. I should have taken her myself. I let her down too, Rose. Anyway, unconditional love is just that, love without conditions to be met and adhered to."

He waked away and stood behind Bella and placed his arms around her waist as she stood by the bed, holding the baby, gazing into the little blue Jasper eyes, and smiling at the unruly blond Jasper curls on his head.

Edward nuzzled her neck and whispered into her ear.

"You look so right holding that baby," he whispered and she smiled at their secret. One day, it would be her in that bed and the others would be cooing over their infant. She was more than ready. What had once seemed like cords to trap her now morphed into ties that would bind them together forever, with her complete blessing.

"Let's get married, soon," she whispered back and Edward smiled and pulled her closer, holding her back flush against his chest.

"Lets. When? Where?"

"The meadow, naturally, where else? As soon as humanly possible."

"I'm available once they release me out of this place," Alice piped up. "I organize pretty amazing weddings, if I do say so myself."

"Alice, you didn't find that a little strange? Seeing Edward at the end of the aisle instead of Jasper?" Bella asked.

Her friend shrugged. "Of course I wanted Jas to be the one but he couldn't get leave until after this little man was born and he was kind of unplanned, a pleasant surprise but really, it was the worse timing ever. Jasper was out of contact for almost the entire pregnancy and when he found out, he wanted us to be married before the delivery. He was very insistent so it was the only way. He wanted his son to arrive into the world with his wife bearing his surname. We didn't organize a reception , that will happen in the future some time and Jasper and I will renew our vows first, in that same church, with Edward as Best Man next time. We'll just have two extra guests, you and my ring bearer here."

"Alice, my Darlin, you clever girl," said a voice with a Texan drawl and everyone vacated the room and left the new arrival home to meet his newly arrived son and kiss his new wife in privacy. They would get their share of time with him once he could bear to leave Alice's side again.

"Bella's home, Jasper's home, all's well with the world again," Esme said tearfully. Carlisle smiled and kissed her cheek and put his arms around her. She would always be their Mother, no matter how old they got.

"Bella and I are getting married real soon," Edward announced and everyone clapped and offered their congratulations.

Bella stepped forward, still holding Edward's hand tightly for courage.

"I know I did a terrible thing to my Edward and I'm so unworthy of his love right now but let me assure you all, I will do anything to make him happy again. Anything," she promised, gazing into his eyes.

"All is forgiven. I love you, all I ever wanted was for us to be together. Thank you for coming back and letting that happen," Edward replied.

There were tears all round and even Rose bit her lip and clung to Emmett. It was true, she and Emm had never encountered adversity, how did she really know how she would react when something shattered her comfortable little world? Maybe she would run, maybe she would never handle the bubble bursting.

Their love had never been tested. She resolved to be kinder to Bella and give the girl a chance to redeem herself. If Edward was happy, who was she to resent his girl coming home?

Bella and Edward wandered around the hospital gardens, smiling, kissing often, talking, catching up as the others watched from inside the waiting room.

Jasper appeared with his baby son in his arms.

"Alice is in the shower. Thanks everyone, for being here for her when I couldn't be. I knew I could count on you all. I have to thank Edward, after all he's done for us."

He looked outside and smiled at his best friend and Bella.

"I just don't see how he can just forget what she did and take her back, just like that," Rose said.

Jasper turned to face her.

"I've been apart from Alice for eight months. They've been apart for two years. Why would he extend that, by keeping her at arms length and making her make up for her sins? That would be more time wasted. I bet he's already taken her home and made love to her. I know my boy and he's held his breath for two long years. Don't even think about making him choose between her and his family, because he will choose her."

"But it's as if her abandonment never happened, as if it never existed," Rose stated, puzzled.

"He loves her, Rose. More than life itself. She's back, he's whole again, there won't be any making up to do, he's taken her back and it's done. Your idea of a proper length of time for her to make up for her absence and his are completely different. I bet the moment he saw her he grabbed on to her and hugged her tight and in that very instance, if I know Edward at all, every single thing was forgiven. Not forgotten, he will struggle now and then but as long as Bella is there to hod him, he will come out of this even stronger.

"They're getting married, soon," Esme smiled.

"And I'll be the proudest Best Man ever, "Jasper replied.

"Whats going to happen now?" Carlisle asked, holding Jaxon's tiny exposed foot in his hand.

"Honorable discharge, I can't leave Alice again now we have a son to raise. I'll find a job and stay close to home."

"Come work with me," Edward suggested as he and Bella walked inside again.

X~x~X~x~X

Bella dressed the baby and smiled at how pretty she looked in her new pink dress her Daddy had bought her. She lifted the infant and walked to the music room where Edward and Jasper were collaborating on a new song together, Jas on guitar, Edward on piano.

"Hand my daughter over, we need another opinion," he said, taking the baby into one arm and playing the tune single handedly.

Jasper strummed along and Edward softly sang the lyrics. "Well, Miss Melody Cullen, what do you think?"

The baby smiled and Edward gave Jasper the thumbs up. They were doing so well now. Their songs were selling like hiot cakes and it was quite usual to hear them in advertising on the television, or playing softly in the background in show's like Grey's Anatomy at the appropriate points of the story.

This new selection were for something new. Edward and Jasper were considering forming a duo and singing their own stuff on stage themselves. Bella sighed, every women in the world would be gazing at and lusting after her husband and his best friend.

A loud cry from the nursery sent her scuttling to lift up the other child they shared. Baby Chord, adopted at birth, but just as much their child as Melody, the daughter she had carried herself.

They'd agreed from the start, for every naturally born baby they added, they would give a homeless child a family as well. It would be like always having twins.

Chord was a happy boy and Bella laughed as he grabbed at her long hair. His eyes were as green as Edward's even though that was the only thing he and her husband shared in common.

One of his bio parents had those emerald eyes and had passed them on.

"You will be just as irresistible as he is, too," she assured him as she clipped up his little dungarees and carried him out to hear the new music.

Bella sat beside Edward and Melody on the piano stool and her husband's arm circled her shoulders and pulled them in closer.

The right arms.

How she had ever doubted that was insane but no harm done. No unfixable harm. Edward still sometimes reached for her in his sleep and held her a little too tight but that was the only backlash and their life was quite perfect.

THE END


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